Jessa Crispin

3 weeks ago | kirkusreviews.com | Jessa Crispin

A cultural critic traces a nebulous redefinition of masculinity to the last decades of the 20th century. In her new work, Crispin’s tools of critique are the erotic thrillers in which Michael Douglas starred in the 1980s and ’90s. The characters he played during this time, the author suggests, all reflect a “new masculinity” trying to find purchase in the wake of not only feminism’s second and third waves, but also shifts to America’s global position at the end of the Cold War.

1 month ago | telegraph.co.uk | Jessa Crispin

Original Sin, by Jake Tapper & Alex Thompson, reveals how Biden's decline was covered up - but is its punchy narrative too convenient? If, as the cliché goes, success has many fathers but failure is an orphan, then Original Sin is an attempt, six months on, to find a parent for Joe Biden's disastrous re-election campaign. Somebody, after all, must take responsibility for the return of Donald Trump to the White House; and as far as this book is concerned, the fault is Biden's own.

2 months ago | thebaffler.com | Ranbir Sidhu |Astra Taylor |Quinn Slobodian |Jessa Crispin

A year ago, I took a friend visiting from California to a casual mixer at a rooftop bar in Athens, Greece, where I live. The mixer was arranged by the local chapter of Democrats Abroad, a get-out-the-vote organization for expat Americans in Europe. With drinks in hand and the sun setting on the Parthenon in the distance, we pushed ourselves into the knot of Americans at the far end of the patio.

Mar 26, 2025 | harpers.org | Jessa Crispin

From What Is Wrong with Men, a study of how portrayals of the American man have changed in films starring Michael Douglas, which will be published next month by Pantheon.

Feb 20, 2025 | m.independent.ie | Jessa Crispin

Show Don’t Tell features an unsurprising procession of Ally McBeal-ish protagonists who just want to do their bestIt’s never comfortable when a novelist starts to have a shtick. Uncomfortable, for obvious reasons, for the critic, and too comfortable, to the point of being cosy, for the reader. You know before you open the book who the characters will be; the beats and rhythm of the plot; how everything will be wrapped up in the end. It’ll all be adequate, but not in the slightest challenging.